Schools urged to address gay/lesbian student issue to avoid suicide risks

SCHOOLS need directly to address and offer guidance to gay and lesbian students to avoid them becoming suicide risks, the ASTI conference was told yesterday.

Tony McKernan, (Limerick South), Equal Opportunities Committee, said a past survey had shown that half had been verbally abused and 33% had heard teachers make homophobic comments.

“The major risk to students in situations like this is suicide and, as teachers, we need to be extremely vigilant,” he said.